Finally, some business in RS

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 19

An unrelenting Opposition did not permit the Rajya Sabha to function in the pre-lunch session for the fifth day in a row. However, it allowed the government to conduct business in the second half when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley cleared the Appropriation Bill (No 4) 2014, well in time for him to go to the Lok Sabha and present the GST Bill. 
In his statement on the Bill, Jaitley also assuaged doubts about the Indian currency which has been experiencing a certain volatility for the past four days. The Finance Minister said there was “no serious crisis” and that the Indian rupee was performing better than others and also stabilising after few days of “volatility”.
According to Jaitley, currencies of all emerging markets witnessed turmoil and volatility on account of a stronger US dollar but the Indian rupee was still performing better in comparison.
“There is a serious challenge as far as emerging markets are concerned due to a stronger dollar... Rupee is performing better compared to other emerging markets,” Jaitley said.
In the past four days, there has been volatility in the rupee which is being attributed to factors like expectations from the US Federal Reserve’s policy announcement and steep decline in Russian currency ruble. According to Jaitley, ruble and currencies of some other emerging countries faced problems but compared to those, the rupee was among the more stable currencies.
“I don’t see any serious crisis on the real value of the rupee,” the Finance Minister said. Notably, after clearing the Bill, the Rajya Sabha also sat for the private members’ Bills.  Opposition leaders later said that they had allowed the House to function because the government had to clear a Finance Bill.
“It will be back to normal (chaos and protests) on Monday,” a senior Congress leader said outside the House. Earlier, led by the Congress, a united Opposition continued with its demand for a statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on forcible religious conversions, leading to two adjournments before lunch.
Several Opposition leaders, including Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, again made a
forceful demand for the
Prime Minister to reply to the debate on the controversy.  However, the
government's stand remained unchanged.